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The Living Severed Hand!

The Living Severed Hand!
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A severed hand that twitches and grabs at those who come near! Make a convincingly gruesome addition to your Halloween costume or a tool for the perfect April Fools prank:

Of course, it isn't really severed, it's just an illusion! What you are going to make is a special glove that will make it look like you are holding a living, moving, human arm. In actuality, what people are seeing is your hand, passing straight through a "dummy" glove with an attached fake stump of an arm.

While the project takes a few hours to make (or more, depending on your attention to detail), it is silly-cheap and has a great effect!
 
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Step 1Material list

Material list
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Things you are going to need for this project:

Main Components:
*a pair of heavy gloves (I opted for dollar store work gloves)
*shampoo bottle
*fabric (to be your "shirt" on the limb)
*pillow fill
*a sheet of white paper
*some nice squishy foam
*a wire coat hanger
*Velcro
*blood colored paint

Tools:
*some nice sharp scissors
*hot glue gun
*wire cutters
*packing tape

Optional
*"Sculpey" or other clay that you can bake in your oven
*super glue

The gloves that you pick are going to be the most important part of the project. Theoretically, you only need one glove- but the effect is best if you are wearing two matching gloves. You'll want to buy or find some that are thick, sturdy, and have longish cuffs. Having no extra gloves laying around, I bought mine for only a buck and they worked pretty well.

Every item besides the gloves I had around the house already, meaning a total cost of $1. If you already have some gloves that you could use, the project could be practically free!

Total time spent on this project was in excess of 10 hours, over the course of several days. This includes all the trial and error that you will be able to avoid, thanks to this Instructable, however! More than one day will be needed, to allow for the paint to dry. Time that you will require depends on how much attention to detail you take.
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153 comments
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Sep 28, 2010. 1:38 PMjavajunkie1976 says:
This was the one I made last year. It always amazes me that the home-made costumes have more "life" than the store-bought ones. It was hilarious to watch the parents freak out while it didn't faze the kids one bit. I guess that says something about the younger generation!!
Nov 3, 2009. 7:32 AMRaf-ael says:
This living severed hand was created by the Magician Kevin James from Las Vegas. He performed it on America got talent & he gave Marvins magic (UK) tye right to sell it in their magic set "freaky body illusions"
So all the credit goes to him for creating this wonderful illusion!
Oct 28, 2011. 10:54 AMkdruken13 says:
I had a plastic one of these in 1993.... I think Kevin James copied that one
Oct 14, 2011. 11:24 AMdlcain says:
I made one of these the other day, and my daughter wore it to her halloeen choir concert. She got a lot of comments about it, and it was funny to see her up there wearing it. She had a short solo part, and she used the "severed hand" to hold the mic. I heard a couple of laughs from the audience. GREAT IDEA!
Oct 3, 2011. 8:24 AMHVahead says:
you could also use some 1 inch thick sticks and break them so they splinter, then paint them white...
Sep 4, 2011. 1:35 PMgplett says:
Great idea. If I end up doing this, I think I'll grab a plaid flannel shirt from the thrift store and cut a sleeve from it for the stump. But totally a classic costume!
Feb 10, 2011. 5:36 PMwillrandship says:
Couldn't you keep using the hand, as long as no one's looking?
Nov 11, 2010. 3:30 PMwillferrari599 says:
Nice!
Nov 10, 2010. 1:36 PMkayla9 says:
Best instructable ever! I tell everyone i found it in the parking and they're like let me see then i wiggle my fingers and they alost wet themselves! Thanks
Oct 31, 2010. 7:28 PMmark2u says:
I keep my hand still and when people ask me how I made such a realistic hand, I tell them I made a cast of my real hand. I suggest they touch it to see how real it feels and when they do... I wiggle my fingers. Don't do this if the person you are doing it to has a heart condition... because the reaction is sure to make them wet themselves! Great fun.
Oct 30, 2010. 7:33 PMmberg says:
sweet instructable man. my severed hand is awsome. the only trouble i had is the velcro because I didn't really understand how you did. the problem i have NOW is the glove swivelling around my wrist(its not that big of a deal).
Oct 30, 2010. 2:35 PMDreex123 says:
that's great, it's a good idea for halloween ! , This is the best instructable of Halloween.

Greetings from Chile
Oct 30, 2010. 12:41 PMSlightly Askew says:
Thanks! This was a hit at our party last night.

Oct 28, 2010. 11:55 PMProcrastinateher says:
Thankyou for this Instructable, it's a pretty neat idea.

Might I just add for anybody following this Instructable, that the hot glue gun makes a LOT of difference. I used PVA glue (applied liberally and secured tightly whilst drying), and I can't get my severed arm to sit at the right angle for the maximum illusion effect.
Might have something to do with using a too-short piece of plastic from a plastic severed arm thing...

I used black ribbon instead of velcro (like the back of a corset), it looks pretty good if the edges of your glove don't quite reach.


I was going to make my version an edible one, but ran out of time to do much with it. You could use almond (royal) icing and dye it for flesh if you're thinking about it, but most foods might be a bit too heavy for this costume and your arm.

It's definitely a project I will attempt again though, when I have access to the right tools and a semi-appropriate occasion :D
Oct 26, 2010. 4:49 PMdodo91 says:
heres some photos! i had to do a little testing with the velcro to see where it goes. thats the only part i think u could explaing better. very good quality. using it while typing right now! I LOVE IT!
Oct 22, 2010. 5:28 PMclicklord1 says:
i tried but dident have sum of the supplies and i cant get my hand in and it looks bad :/ but i love the idea :)
Oct 26, 2010. 6:23 AMdodo91 says:
if you buy correctly, the total can come less to $10.

work gloves -$1
pillow for filling -$1
paints -$1
bones - free - used broken tree branches
cloth - had mine already, but not a lot more than $2 for small amount
carboard - free
foam - cant say. we already had ours
Oct 26, 2010. 6:12 AMdodo91 says:
mine turned out great! only took about 2 hours to make. thanks for making an instructable on this!
Oct 25, 2010. 5:19 PMdodo91 says:
AWESOME! i got my mom to let me make this, of course, ill make it myself, but my awesome mom is buying me the stuff we dont already have! GOOD IDEA!
Oct 17, 2010. 9:32 AMmultiplecats says:
NOW I know what I'm going to dress up with for work on the 29th. And I know exactly which co-workers will scream when I shove this in their faces. :D Thanks!!
Oct 12, 2010. 3:49 PMkayla9 says:
This is my favorite Halloween instructable yet!!!!
Oct 7, 2010. 9:02 PMProcrastinateher says:
I love this Instructable, thankyou.

I'm thinking of making this, but with at least part of it edible for the shock factor of me having a little nibble. Even if just the bone tips are edible.

If I do manage to do this, I'll be sure to post my results :)
Oct 28, 2008. 9:21 AMcaptain_ham says:
This is incredible! I have to work in a restaurant on Halloween, this will be the perfect minimal impact costume - effective and cool, yet easily removeable if need be. I'd consider actually cutting up an old shirt for the 'fake' arm. Having the shirt cuff around your own wrist (i.e. so the shirt is on both sides of where the glove is gripping) would add to the effect. If that makes sense... I'm making this sometime this week! Pictures to follow! Awesome instructable!
Feb 15, 2009. 3:47 PMthepelton says:
Second hand shirts that wouldn't set you back much can be had at second hand thrift stores, like Salvation Army or Veteran's thrift store.
Sep 23, 2010. 12:24 AMcrazycloud says:
Yard Sales too.
Jun 16, 2010. 10:58 PMsillyzombie666 says:
dude i do volunteer haunted houses and i play a crazy doctor / butcher and i so need to make this
Apr 4, 2010. 5:51 AMZulak says:
Made this for a recent party, worked really well. Very well written instructions, made everything easy. The only problem I had with it was a tendency for my wrist to twist around in the gardening glove so the hand protruded at the wrong angle, but other than that this was perfect.
Jun 22, 2009. 9:37 AMRock Soldier says:
The fake arm part doesn't look real. You need to color it to the tune of your hand.
Mar 14, 2010. 5:58 PMJyssa says:
Yea but everyone presumes it to be fake - the best thing would be to paint the real hand to look fake - then it's double the freak-out when it moves/is warm/etc. :) And it matches the fake stump..
Nov 11, 2009. 9:00 AMmr monoply33 says:
well done!

*Applauds*
Nov 3, 2009. 6:23 AMslm437 says:
Helped by hubby make his - we used doubled up bristol board for the arm - stuffed with plastic bags. since his name is Andy we called him "handy-andy".
Nov 2, 2009. 2:01 PMtrialex says:
Another satisfied customer...

(yes it does look like I'm groping myself in this photo...)

Nov 1, 2009. 10:29 AMrjs899 says:
This was great. At least a dozen kids were too scared to even take the Halloween candy i was offering.

For the bone piece, I used a 1" rawhide bone dog chew. The coloring and texture was perfect, and i made it stick out about 2" from the fake arm. A little blood on the bone made it very realistic.

Thanks!
Nov 1, 2009. 10:30 AMrjs899 says:
I meant to say that the rawhide was 1" thick, and about 8" long.
Nov 1, 2009. 8:21 AMalex-sharetskiy says:
Very clever


,,and grotesque,,
Oct 31, 2009. 8:56 PMMcGrep says:
Positively brilliant! Who knew Hollywood-quality effects could be achieved with household rubbish? It's the essence of DIY!
Oct 12, 2008. 2:36 PMBlueear says:
This is great fun - perfect minimal halloween costume. I'd add - using makeup on your own hand, lots of white and/or gray face paint, black/purple nails, maybe some blood - make the hand look 'dead'.
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